


Lucky

by imtheonlybeefcow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: And Play Guitar, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I love him, I promise, M/M, She is amazing, also lance can sing, its cute, lance has a twin sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 07:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10485606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imtheonlybeefcow/pseuds/imtheonlybeefcow
Summary: Allura lets everyone have a one week vacation! Lance gets to see his family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was literally inspired by the time Jeremy sang "Lucky" so yeah... (There are probably a ton of mistakes but do I really want to deal with them right now?

“I need everyone to report to the main deck immediately” Allura said over the intercom. She made her voice sound as urgent as possible.

All the paladins quickly gathered on deck, Shiro looking concerned. “Princess! What’s the mat-?”

Hunk came running over to Allura. “Wha-what is going on? Are we being attacked?” He cut Shiro off?

“Calm down, Hunk.” Pidge said. “Why’d you call us down so urgently?”

“I have some big news for you all!”

“Big news like good? Or big news like bad?” Lance asked.

“I’d say it's pretty good.” Allura said with a smile. “I am allowing you to take a one week ‘vacation’ as you earthlings call it.”

“Really?” Pidge said excitedly.

Shiro did not seem entirely on board with this idea. “But, Princess, what if there is an attack? We won’t be able to form Voltron to defend you and the castle.”

“I am fully aware of this, Shiro, but if you recall, we damaged their numbers pretty significantly. And we severely damaged their central command ship. Zarkon won’t be able to launch a full on attack for a little while. Also, we have to do some repairs on the ship’s defenses.”

“That’s true but still… we have to be prepared for anything.”

“C’mon Shiro.” Lance spoke up. “Relax man. Let us have a little fun. We need a break every once in awhile.”

“Okay, but Princess.”

“Yes?”

“You have to be prepared to wormhole them back here if anything goes wrong.”

“‘Them’? Does that mean you won’t be leaving?”

“Yep. I don’t exactly have anyplace to go.”

“Well, what about you three?” Allura said to Keith Lance and Hunk.

"Despite how much I want to go back to earth" Hunk said with a sad look on his face "I want to go see Shay and her people. I want to see how they are doing and how the Balmera is doing"

"Aww Hunk just loves his girlfriend sooo much" Pidge teased causing Hunk to blush ever so slightly. But he did not deny it anymore.

"I am going back to earth" Lance said confidently. "I'm going back home where the ocean is and where my family is. Ah I just miss it all so much. The ocean breeze. The smell of the water. The rain. Man, I hope it rains."

"Well that just leaves Keith. Well. Where are, you going to go?" Allura questioned.

"I don't really know." Keith mumbled looking away from the rest of the Paladins. He started to walk away back to his room.

"Yeah don't you have family that you want to see or do you hate them that much" Lance said playfully.

Keith froze where he was. He did not turn to face Lance.

"Woah. Hey Lance. Watch it." Said Shiro.

"Relax Shiro. I'm just having a little fun. Hey Keith do you really hate your family so much that you don't even want to see them?!"

Keith was starting to get a little angry at Lance. But he stayed right where he was. Not moving.

"Hey Lan-!" Shiro tried to say.

"Come on man. That's just cruel. I could never hate my family." He continued to tease.

Keith was so close to snapping. _Shut up Lance_ he thought _shut up shut up shut up._ But he remained still

"Can you believe this guys?! Keith despises his own family. Right, buddy?"

Keith finally broke. He whipped around and walked up to Lance. Grabbing him by his collar and shoving him up against the nearest wall. He stared up at Lance, dead in the eyes.

"Yes, Lance you are correct. I despise my family. And do you really want to know why I do? Because they are all dead as far as I know. They left me when I was just a little kid. I have been alone ever since." Tears started to roll down his cheeks. "So yes. I hate them. I hate them for leaving me all alone in this world." He dropped Lance and he slid down to the floor.

Everybody was staring in disbelief at the scene they all just witnessed. Nobody said a word and nobody moved an inch. Except for Keith. Who took off full sprint to his room.

Everyone just turned and stared at Lance.

Lance finally spoke "man can't that guy learn to take a joke" he said followed by a nervous chuckle. Lance knew he had been a little harsh but Keith needs to learn when people are joking.

"Lance..." Said Hunk.

"Yeah yeah. I know. I know I was a little hard on him bu-"

"A little?!?" Shiro interrupted before Lance could finish, "you think that you were only a little hard on him?! Lance, you have no idea what he has been through or what his personal life is like. That is a subject matter that you can't joke around with!"

Lance was still not fully convinced that he did something wrong. "Keith just needs to learn how to take a joke"

"No, Lance. You need to learn when it is okay to do that. And now is not the time."

Lance began to feel the guilt that he had not felt yet. "O-ok guys...I didn't know...I didn't know he would react that way. Do you think I wanted to hurt him?" Lance was kind of shaking at this point.

"Lance. We tried to stop you. But you kept on going. I'm going to go see if he’s okay" Shiro turned and walked out of the room towards Keith's room.  Everybody else began to leave to go prepare for their own vacation.

Lance slowly got up and headed to his own room to get ready. On his way there, he passed Keith's room. The door was barely open so Lance decided to take a look. Keith was lying face down on his bed. Face buried in his pillow. He was shaking. Shiro was sitting on the edge of the bed. Lance assumed he was talking to Keith. The guilt was taking over and Lance could not take much more of this. He quickly walked past.

* * *

Lance flopped down on his bed. He grabbed the makeshift guitar Hunk and Pidge crafted when they were on a planet. Lance loved his guitar. He would play it when he needed to calm down. If he thought about his family, he would play it.

He quietly began to strum the beginning chords of one of his favorite songs. Lucky. He used to play it and sing it with his girlfriend back home. Well now that he had Keith in his life, she was out of the question. Even though he had no partner to sing with at the moment, he sang both parts. He would change his voice ever so slightly when he sang the female part. The song doesn't sound the same when it is sung alone, as Lance soon realized when he began doing this when he received the guitar.

He could only make it through a few lines before he couldn't take it any longer. He needed to fix this thing with Keith.

That night felt really lonely. Keith would usually come over to Lance's room and they would talk or sneak out to the training deck and see who could hold off the gladiator the longest. But Keith never came. Lance knew he had to go to Keith if he ever wanted to change things.

He got out of his bed and walked quietly to Keith's door. It was closed. He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Hey, Keith. Listen man. I'm really sorry about earlier. What I said can't be undone or taken back. But I just want to talk.

A minute passed and then the door opened. Standing in the doorway was Keith. He looked pretty bad. His eyes were a little red and puffy. Like he had been crying. He also looked really tried. He looked at Lance and said nothing. Instead, he walked back to his bed and lied back down.

Lance walked over and sat on the floor. Back to the bed.

"What do you want?" Keith said slightly annoyed.

"I want to apologize. I didn't know that I was hurting you. I didn't know that that was a touchy subject for you. Hell. I don't know much about you. I just don't want what we have to end. I like you a lot Keith. And I don't want to lose you. I don't really have much experience with loss. I know I can be an asshole sometimes. God, I'm so stupid..."

"So you finally admit that you are stupid..."

"What?!"

"You just said 'god I'm so stupid'. You admitted it. I've been trying to tell you forever."

"Keith! This was supposed to be serious! How can you say something like that?!"

Keith chuckled quietly. "You're not the only asshole Lance."

Lance took this as an accepted apology. "Thanks man. But there is something I want to ask you."

"Ugh what. I thought we were done with this."

"Well if you still haven't decided on a place to go...I may have an idea."

"Well what is it?"

"Well there is a small island off the coast where my house is. When I was little, my dad would boat out there and we would spend hours there. I had a little house that we made. We loved it. Maybe we could go there. Together."

"But what about your family. Didn't you want to see them?"

"Ehhh they can wait. I want you to experience what normal little kids experienced."

"I'm not a little kid, Lance."

"Well sometimes you act like one..."

Keith took a pillow and threw it at Lance. "Oh shut up. Just go to bed. We have to get ready in the morning."

Lance smiled as we got up and left the room...

* * *

Lance and Keith were the last to leave the castle. Shiro was going to stay because he really didn’t have any business there considering he _was_ thought to be dead. They decided to fly a pod down, so that they can avoid all the commotion that two giant space lions would cause. They parked it far from Lance’s house so that nobody would be able to find it. They got out and walked the rest of the distance.

Lance's house was right on a coast. It overlooked water that glittered in the sun’s light. The house itself was fairly large. Keith assumed it was because Lance had a big family. They both walked up to the front door. Lance reached in the empty pot that was sitting on the floor and pulled out a set of keys. He opened the door and threw the keys back in the pot.

The inside of the house was amazing. Well, pretty much anything was amazing to somebody who had been living alone in a little cabin style house. Lance’s house was so open and spacious. They had huge windows that allowed the natural light to flood in. It seemed so natural. Lance noticed Keith’s amazed look. “Why do you look so interested in my house? It’s nothing special.” Lance said.

“In case you forgot, I haven’t been to an actual house in _years_ Lance.” Keith said sighing. “So, it is pretty amazing.”

Lance heard a rustling sound coming from the kitchen, but then it stopped. Then suddenly, someone jumped out from the kitchen doorway. They had a blue bandana covering their mouth and nose. They were holding a baseball bat like they were about swing it. “Who’s there!?” It was a girl’s voice. “You better get out of here, I’m not afraid to use this.” Keith jumped behind Lance.

Lance quickly held out his arm to stop her. “Woah. Hey. Calm down, Lauren. It’s just me. It’s Lance.”

Her eyes got wide and she ripped off the bandana and threw it down on the ground. “My baby brother’s finally home?!” She sprinted over and hugged Lance. “But I heard another voice. Did someone follow you home?”

Keith was able to see what she looked like now. She shared a lot of traits with Lance. She had darker skin. Her medium brown  hair was about shoulder length and wavy at the ends. Her eyes were like Lance’s. They were a brilliant shade of blue. She also seemed to be barely taller than Lance.

When Lauren finally released him, Lance stepped aside revealing Keith. Lauren tipped her head to the side in confusion. “Who’s this?”

“Lauren, this is Keith.”

“ _The_ Keith? As in your rival Keith? I l thought you didn’t like him.”

“Well things can change when you’re stuck with them for a while.”

“I can see why. He's pretty cute. You did good, baby bro.”

“Shut up, Lauren. And stop calling me your “baby brother” you are literally 3 minutes older than me.” Lance looked slightly annoyed.

“Why isn't he talking? Is he broken?”

Lance looked down at the floor in defeat. “Lauren, you can't just ask people stuff like that. It's kinda rude.”

“That doesn't answer my question, Lance.”

“Oh I don't know, Lauren. Maybe you're scaring him. You did almost murder us with a baseball bat.”

“Oh right… sorry ‘bout that Keith.”

“It’s fine…” Keith said quietly.

Lauren smiled really big. “Awww Lance he’s perfect!”

“Lay off.” Lance said as he playfully punched Lauren in the shoulder. “And how does one line determine that?”

“Oh I just know.” She winked at him. “Hey! Maybe I should call up _my_ boyfriend and we can go on a double date tomorrow night.”

“Oh my God, Lauren! You don’t even have a boyfriend. Or do you?”

“I’m gunna say anything.” she said, then quickly changed the subject, “Anyway, why are you back home? Shouldn’t you still be at the Garrison?”

“Oh yeah about that-” Keith lightly kicked Lance so that Lauren couldn't see. Lance wasn’t supposed to say anything about Voltron. They agreed it was for the best right now that nobody knows about it.

“You heard about that, right? Ever since that weird spaceship crashed nearby, classes have been cancelled. Eventually, they sent us home so that we wouldn’t be in danger.” _She’s not going to buy this._ Lance thought.

“Oh yeah, that makes sense.” _Oh my god. She bought it._

“Where’s the rest of the family at?”

“They all went out to get stuff to cook tonight, they will probably be back later today. I stayed back because ya know. Somebody has to protect the house from people trying to break in.”

_Wait,_ so why did you bring, Keith with you?”

“Oh umm… Keith?”

Keith was annoyed that Lance was passing this one to him. But also kind of relieved. “Well I don’t really have anywhere to go.”

“Wait. Is it because you don’t have family to go to? Because man, that would suck!” Lauren began. Lance attempted to stop her, but she didn’t notice. “If I didn’t have my family, I would be super depressed all the time…”

She stopped when she saw Keith walk towards the front door head hanging down. He looked back and put on his best fake smile. “Wow. You two really are alike.” And then he walked outside. Leaving Lance and Lauren alone in the room.

They both watched in silence as Keith walked out the front door. Lance turned to Lauren. She just shrugged.

“Seriously Lauren?!”

“What?!”

Lance didn't answer her. Instead, he got up and started pacing around the room, thinking about what to do. He went to his room and closed his door. On his bed sat a guitar. A real guitar. He sat on his bed and began to tune it. He instinctively strummed the chords to Lucky. At that moment he realized what he has to do. He grabbed the guitar and headed out to find Keith.

He had to search the whole perimeter of the house before he finally found Keith sitting with his back to a tree in the backyard. Lance could see that he had his head buried in his knees.

All Lance could do at that moment was stare at Keith. He looked so helpless and weak compared to his tough emotionless demeanor. Lance leaned his guitar against the side of his house. He took a deep breath and slowly walked over.

“Hey buddy”. He said quietly so that he wouldn't startle Keith. “Hey, you alright?”

No response

“Was it what Lauren said? You shouldn’t listen to her. She doesn't really have a filter on what she says.”

“Well Lauren wasn’t wrong” Keith said in a muffled voice still not lifting his head.

“No”

“...no...?”

“She is totally wrong”

“Uhh Lan-”

“She couldn't be further from the truth”

“Bu-”

“No. Shut up, Keith! You do have a family. All of us. Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran. We are your family!”

Keith looked up at him. His indigo eyes glistened. Lance held out his hand waiting for Keith to grab it. Instead of grabbing his hand, Keith jumped up and tackle hugged Lance. The force was enough to knock both of them to the ground. Lance could feel droplets hit his shoulder. Neither one of them said anything. Neither one of them made any movement towards getting up. Lance didn’t have the heart to disturb Keith.

His breathing was fast and his heart rate was high lance noticed as his friend laid on top of him sobbing _. It's okay man_ he thought. _Just let it all out. I'm here for you._ And as the minutes passed, Keith grew quieter and his heart rate was slowing down. He was still shaking slightly though. _Oh, he's asleep now_ Lance thought. _He looks so young. And cute._ With his head on Lance’s chest and body snuggled right next to him, Keith lay silently. And soon Lance grew tired. _Well we probably won't be moving anytime soon_ Lance thought. So, he let himself drift away into the realm of darkness and dreams.

* * *

When Keith woke up, he didn't really know where he was. The first thing he noticed was that he was laying on somebody. When he looked at that person, his heart stopped for a split second. Lance. He was sleeping on lance. Who, at the moment, was also sleeping. Keith's movements must have alerted lance because he slowly opened his eyes and sat up.

"Wha...where are we?" Lance asked in a sleepy tone.

"In your backyard... I think" Keith replied quietly. “Umm… How long have we been here?”

“It’s hard to say, but I wouldn’t guess more than an hour.”

“Oh.”

_Shit this is getting awkward_ Keith thought. _Uhh… What do I say. Do I say anything at all. Do I get up? But it is so comfortable and warm here._ He felt his face getting hotter and his heart rate increased.

Lance must have noticed something because he finally spoke. “Hey, Keith. Are you alright? Your face is hot and you’re breathing shallower. Are you coming down with something?”

_Lance, you idiot. Where have you been the last hour? Did you forget what just happened?_ And then it hit him _. Maybe Lance is purposely avoiding all of what happened an hour ago, but why?_

Then Lance spoke up again.

“Oh, I know what’s wrong with you.”

“Huh?”

“You are sick. Love sick that is.” Lance winked at Keith. Who then proceeded to sit up and punch Lance in the shoulder.

“Hey! What was that for?” Lance asked defensively.

“What do you think, dumbass?”

“Whelp. Normal Keith returns.” Lance says with a sigh. He stood up and looked down at Keith who was still blushing. Lance held out his hand waiting for Keith to take it. Which he did, but all while avoiding eye contact with Lace.

“Hey c’mon man. Don’t be like that, I have something to show you.” Lance said leading Keith away from the backyard. Keith didn’t resist. He also did not know what he was getting himself into. Lance passed by the guitar propped up against the house and picked it up.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“And the love-struck boy speaks once again!” Lance chimes. “You will see soon enough.”

When they got back to the front of the house, Lance let go of Keith’s hand and took out a guitar pick from his pocket and began to strum some chords. Keith recognized the song as the one he always heard Lance play back on the ship. His eyes widened as he looked at Lance.

“What? You know this song?” Lance asked. “Man, for someone who lived in isolation for a while, I’m surprised you know Jason Mraz. It’s a pretty old song too…”

Keith stopped.

“Oh god.” Lance muttered under his breath. “Shit, man. I forgot about that.”

_Shit I messed up_. Lance thought. Then he heard a chuckle.

Keith was laughing. Lance was shocked not only because he rarely saw Keith smile, but he was laughing also.

“What b-but I-“ Lance stammered.

“Man, you really don’t know when to stop. Do you?”

Lance breathed a sigh of relief and then continued to strum the opening chords. When was the last time I sung this to a person? It’s probably going to sound odd as a solo. Oh well.

 

_Do you hear me_

_I’m talking to you_

_Across the water, across the deep blue ocean_

_Under the open sky, oh my, baby I’m trying_

 

Keith held up his hand but Lance kept playing the chords but he didn’t sing.

 

_Boy I hear you, in my dreams_

 

Keith was singing. Since when can he sing? Lance was too in shock to stop so he kept listening to Keith hit every note with a slight roughness to his voice.

 

_I feel your whisper across the sea_

_I keep you with me in my heart_

_You make it easier when life gets hard._

 

Then Lance joined back in for the chorus of the song, singing the harmony. While Keith took the melody

 

_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend_

_Lucky to have been where I have been_

_Lucky to be coming home again_

 

Lance still can’t believe this is happening right now. He wanted to know how Keith knew the duet part of the song.

 

_They don't know how long it takes_

_Waiting for a love like this_

_Every time we say goodbye_

_I wish we had one more kiss_

_I'll wait for you I promise you, I will_

 

While they were singing the chorus again, Lance led Keith towards the ocean stopping only to pick a bright red flower from the garden. Which he placed it in his pocket careful to not crush the shape of the petals. Lance began the second verse.

 

_And so, I'm sailing through the sea_

_To an island where we'll meet_

_You'll hear the music fill the air_

_I'll put a flower in your hair_

 

Lance stopped strumming and pulled out the flower. He pushed Keith’s bangs out of the way and placed the bright red flower behind his ear. Keith’s face got almost as red as the flower. But he still finished the duet.

 

_Though the breezes through the trees_

_Move so pretty you're all I see_

_As the world keeps spinning round_

_You hold me right here right now_

 

Lance looked back at his house and saw his sister watching all of this take place from the window. She had a huge grin on her face. Lance tried to shoo her away, but she completely ignored him as they began the chorus once again.

 

_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend_

_Lucky to have been where I have been_

_Lucky to be coming home again_

 

Both of them knew the song was ending and neither of them wanted this moment to end.

 

_I'm lucky we're in love in every way_

_Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed_

_Lucky to be coming home someday_

 

And with that, the song was over. Lance looked at Keith, set the guitar down, and ran over to hug him. Keith was not expecting that nor the amount of strength Lance had when it came to hugging. Somebody with that build should not be able to hug this tightly. But what puzzled him the most was when he felt his feet leave the ground for a split second before he and Lance tumbled to the ground laughing hysterically. When their laughing fit was over, Lance looked at Keith with a puzzled look on his face.

“So how did you know that song?” Lance asked.

“Back on the castle, you would sing it all the time.”

“You heard that? Still, how did you know it was a duet?”

“You would ever so slightly change the tone of your voice in the middle of the song. Also, the lyrics made it seem like it was supposed to be two sung by two people.”

“Since when are you so observant? God, I didn’t know you paid that much attention to me.”

Keith blushed a little. “Uhh…” He turned away. “I-I uh well…”

“Woah relax, man. I was just joking.” Lance said with a laugh. “I had no clue people could hear me. Does that mean the others heard too?”

“Yeah, they probably hated your awful singing.”

“Maybe, but _you_ obviously loved it.” Lance winked at Keith.

“Oh my God, stop. You are too much sometimes. You are just like your sister.”

Lance snapped his fingers like he remembered something.  He stood up and offered a hand to Keith. He looked up at Lance. “What was that about? Where are we going?”

“I need to talk to Lauren.”

“Lance, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Yeah, I know, but this is something different.”

“What? Why do I need to be involved?”

“You just do. Come on.”

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and he pulled him to his feet. They ran back to the house. When they walked in, Lauren was nowhere to be found. Lance let go of Keith’s hand. “Wait right here. I’ll be right back. Be prepared to come when I yell for you.”

“Prepared for what?” But Lance was already gone.

Lance ran to his room and set his guitar on his bed. Lauren must be hiding in her room. He went to the room next door and tried to open it. It was locked. “Hey, Lauren. Open up!” Lance demanded. He heard a slightly muffled voice inside. Lauren sounded like she was talking to someone else. _She must be talking on the phone. Damn, I need her phone. I have to get rid of that video. Not that I mind, but Keith probably does._

He barely heard her say “Sorry my little brother needs something” before silence. Then the door in front of him flew open. Lauren stood in the doorway. She had her cell phone up to her ear. She didn’t ask Lance what he wanted, she just kept talking. “Oh my God. You should see Lance and his _friend,_ Keith. They are super cute together.

“Shut up Lauren.” Lance tried to grab her phone, but she held out her arm, blocking him.

“Oh hey. I’ll send you a cute video of them.”

“Lauren!” Lance had to distract her somehow so that she couldn’t stop him from taking the phone. _Oh, that’s right! I have Keith._ Lance took a deep breath and yelled as loud as he could “KEITH!”

That seemed to catch her off guard because Lance noticed the arm blocking him relax a bit. He took the chance and reached for the phone. He managed to grab hold of it and started to run. He didn’t make it very far. Lauren recovered quickly and dove at Lance. She managed to grab one of his legs. Lance fell forward, his chin slamming into the hardwood floor. “Oww!” He yelled in pain. Lance saw Keith run around the corner at the end of the hallway. “Keith! Quick!”

Keith heard Lance yelling from somewhere in the back of the house. Instinctively, he shot up and ran towards the direction of the voice. He rounded a few corners and then found Lance. He was laying on the ground with a rose gold cellphone in his hand. Behind him was Lauren. She looked angry. She was clawing her way up to her phone. “Keith! Quick!” Keith ran over to Lance. When Keith was close enough, Lance tossed the phone to him praying that Keith would catch it. Which he did. “Run!” Lance yelled at him. “Don't let her have it!”

Without hesitation, Keith took off sprinting in the other direction. He wasn’t really sure why though. He assumed he was holding Lauren’s phone. He hoped Lance had a plan, but he had a feeling Lance didn’t plan this far, if he even planned this at all.

As soon as the phone was passed to Keith, Lauren jumped off of her brother. She bolted in Keith's direction. Keith was much faster than her though. He wove his way through the halls dodging obstacles in his way. He didn’t dare look back. He knew Lauren was behind him. He wanted so desperately to turn around and give her the phone, but he didn’t really want to know what she would do to him.

He made it to the living room and jumped over the couch in front of him. He heard the tuning stop as soon as he cleared it. He stopped and turned around. Lauren must have retrieved her bat because she was hitting it in the palm of her hand while slowly advancing towards Keith.

“Keith.” She said in a calm voice. Perhaps it was the calmness that made this whole situation a lot more frightening. “Why don't you hand me that phone. Then I won't have to use this.” She kept hitting the bat in her hand. She had a twisted smile.

Keith tried to back up, but his back hit the wall. _Shit. She looks mad. Like really mad. She wouldn't actually hit me. Would she…?_ As if she could read Keith's mind she brought the bat back behind her head, ready to swing. _Oh my God. She is._

“LAUREN!” Somebody yelled. She turned in the direction of the voice. It was Lance, who was extremely out of breath, like Keith. As soon as her eyes left Keith, he bolted out to the right. Lauren turned and tried to catch him, but he was too fast.

“Keith. Over here.” Lance called. Keith sprinted to him and jumped behind him like he had when he first met Lauren. Then again, she had tried to kill him there too, and Lance was able to stop her then so maybe he could do it now. “Hand me the phone.”

Keith was glad to give up the pink cell phone. Her focus shifted from Keith to Lance. Whoever possessed the phone was her target. Lance held the phone up tauntingly. “You want this back, right?”

“Give me my phone back. I will hurt you, Lance.” Her grip on the bat tightened and her smile disappeared.

“Oh, I know you will. And I'll give it back _if_ you delete the video.”

“Why does it matter to you whether I've got it or not, huh?”

“It doesn't. But it might to Keith. It's a little thing called consent, dear sister.”

“Well does it?”

Honestly, Keith had no idea what was going on. What video? And why does it have to do with him.

He didn't have time to ask any questions because the front door creaked open and an older lady walked in. Lauren dropped the bat and kicked it behind the couch. Before the woman looked up Lance shoved the phone in Lauren's hands, grabbed Keith’s hand, and rushed off to the back rooms. It was all so perfectly timed, Keith wondered if they had done this before.

They ended up in what Keith assumed to be Lance’s room. Keith looked around. The walls were a light shade of blue and it had a high ceiling. There was an older looking white ceiling fan hanging above them. The lights gave off a warm light that was pretty comforting.

Keith noticed there were two beds in the room. One was significantly smaller than the other. “Why are there two?” Keith asked Lance gesturing towards the pair of beds.

“With a family as big as mine, we don't get our own rooms. I share with my younger brother. I used to share with Lauren before we had any younger siblings and my oldest sister got her own room. But yeah.”

“I've always had my own room. Actually, I've had my own place for a while now.”

Keith sat down on Lance’s bed. He was about to say something to Lance but they heard Lauren yell from the living room. “Lance! Come here!”

Lance turned to Keith. “Wait here. I'll be right back.”

Lance walked out closing the door behind him. Keith was left alone. In Lance’s room. He stared at the guitar that sat next to him on the bed. He wondered if he still knew how to play. He learned when he was younger, but he hasn’t exactly gotten the chance to play one in a while. Lance didn’t know any of this though. Keith didn’t intend for him to ever figure it out either.

Keith gently picked up the guitar. He could tell it was older. The wood looked worn and definitely used quite a bit. He made sure to handle the instrument extra carefully. He propped it up on his leg and brought his hand up to the neck of the guitar.

He strummed a simple C chord. That was the first chord in “Lucky”. He couldn’t help but smile when he heard the chord. It made him think about Lance. And all that he has done for him, how unusually nice he has been since Keith had lashed out at him back on the ship. He lightly began to strum the rest of the song, humming along to it. He was about halfway the melody when the door suddenly burst open. Lance came running in. “Hey, Keith. They wa-” He stopped when he saw Keith with his guitar.

Keith frantically tried to move the guitar off of his lap and set it down next to him. “I-I… I didn’t mean… uh I-” He stammered.

“Woah, chill.” Lance said bringing his hands up and slowly lowering them. “It’s fine. It’s totally fine. Besides, I didn’t know you played guitar and sang. God, is there anything you can’t do?

“Lance, there are plenty of things I _can’t_ do.”

“Yeah, like being taller than me.” Lance said. He grabbed Keith’s hands and pulled him off the bed. He pulled Keith close to him. Lance stood on his toes to over exaggerate the height difference between the two boys. He then spun Keith around to face the door. He let go of Keith’s hands and they dropped to his side. Lance put his hands on Keith’s shoulders and gently started to push him out of the room.

“C’mon. Lauren want you to see the rest of my family.”

Keith instantly resisted. He stretched out his arms and pressed his palms against the wall in attempt to stop Lances pushing. He also leaned all his weight against Lance. Nothing helped. Lance sidestepped letting Keith fall backwards onto the floor, but before he hit, in one smooth movement, Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist and pulled him up.

“Nice reflexes… I guess.” Keith mumbled under his breath.

“Thanks. Now, why are you resisting so much?”

“I’m not the most social person, Lance.”

“Still. What’s the real reason?”

“Are they all going to be like Lauren?” Keith asked quietly.

Lance burst into laughter. “No, Keith” He said wiping a tear out of his eye. “They are not going to try and murder you with a baseball bat. Now, let’s go. They are going to get suspicious if we keep them waiting.”

Lance, once again, grabbed his hand. Only this time, Keith allowed himself to be be dragged along.They made it to the main room of the house and there were so many people. There were at least three kids running around. There was Lauren and the older lady, Keith assumed she was Lance’s grandma. Then there were Lance’s parents. They were all tall. Except for the kids, though they were taller for their age.

Once they were noticed, the room went quiet. All eyes were on Keith and Lance. Keith could feel his face getting hotter. All of a sudden the three kids ran up to them. They went to Lance first, obviously. Lance scooped up the smallest one.

She was a small girl with long brown hair. She had big blue eyes that sparkled like gemstones. Freckles dotted her already dark complexion.

“Heya, Rosie” Lance said cheerfully.

The girl, Rosie, had a huge smile. She had the cutest dimples on either side of her face. Her cheeks had a slight natural rosiness to them.

She wrapped her arms around Lance’s neck. Then she looked at Keith. “Who is dat?” She asked, pointing her finger at him.

“That's Keith. He's my uh… friend. From the garrison.”

Keith smiled at her. She brought out her other hand and reached out towards him. “Keith…?” She said curiously.

Lance adjusted his hold on her. “Here.” He began to pass of the squirming child to Keith. He stepped back instinctively.

“Woah. No no no. I don't know how to-”

“Too bad.” Lance shoved her over and Keith couldn't exactly let her fall so he grabbed her much like Lance had. Keith wasn't used to little kids and he wasn't exactly fond of them either. But he tried not to show it.

She looked curiously at Keith's hair. She grabbed a small section of it from the back and was sort of studying it. “Why is your hair so long?” Rosie asked. Keith didn’t really mind her touching his hair. Lance did it all the time, so he was used to it. He decided to play along with this girl.

“Why is yours so long?” He said twirling a piece of her hair around his finger. She giggled.

“Cuz I’m a girl!” She said proudly. “Boys have short hair. Like Lance!” She pointed at her brother.

“But not all of them.”

“Really?”

“Well look at me. I’m a boy and I don’t have short hair. Your sister, Lauren, is a girl and she _has_ short hair. It’s whatever the person wants.”

“Ohhhh.” She was still playing with his hair. After a few seconds, she looked back up at Keith, “Soft.” She said quietly.

Keith didn’t really know what to do now. He glanced over at Lance who was standing there with his eyes wide and mouth open in amazement. He quickly caught on and took his sister from Keith. “C’mon, kiddo. Time to let Keith go.”

“Awww, but I like him. He’s nice.”

“Hey, how ‘bout you go in the kitchen and help Mamá start cooking.” She got that big smile on her face and ran to the kitchen where her mother was waiting.

Lance turned to Keith and punched him in the arm. “I didn’t know you were good with kids!?”

“I didn’t either.” Keith admitted.

“Really, cuz Rosalie doesn’t like strangers at all. It always takes her a while to warm up to my friends, but you… She instantly trusted you! How’d you do that??”

“I don’t know.”

“Lance!” It was Lauren. She must have gotten her bat back because she was swinging it around where she stood. “Bring Keith over here. Abuela wants to see him.”

They walked over to the couch. This time Lance didn’t have to drag Keith along behind him. He was becoming more comfortable around the family. They sat next to each other. Neither one of them said a word. Lance’s grandma looked like she was studying him. She leaned forward to get a better look at him. Then she leaned back and crossed her arms.

“Él es muy guapo.” She said.

“Abuela!!” Lance said. His face getting red. Across the room, Lauren fell to the ground in a laughing fit.

Keith didn’t really know much Spanish, so he was really confused. “What did she say, Lance?”

Lance wouldn’t answer him. Lauren regained her composure enough to give Keith an answer. “She said you’re really cute!” She turned to her grandma. “Abuela, go easy on him. He seems a little shy.”

“Am not!” Keith said. Determined to prove her wrong.

“Oh. Says the same person who hid from me. Behind Lance, might I add.”

“You tried to murder us! _Twice_!”

“True, but I didn’t.”

“I didn’t know that at the time.”

Abuela chuckled. “I like him.”

“Yeah well so does Lance.” Lauren said under her breath.

“Oh my God, Lauren!” Lance finally spoke.

Abuela stepped in before they could start arguing. “So, Keith. What brings you here?”

“Technically Lance brought him here.” Lauren said.

“Let the boy speak for himself, Lauren.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, Keith.”

“Umm. Well I… don’t really have a place to live.”

“You don’t? What about your parents? Where are they?”

“I… I don’t know where they are. Gone, maybe.”

“Oh, you poor child.” She motioned to the whole house. “Stay here as long as you need to.”

“I couldn’t-”

“Please. We would love for you to stay. Anyone in this house is family.”

“Uh…” Keith couldn’t find the words to express how grateful he was for this. “Thank you so much.” It was cliché but it was all he’s got.

“No problem, sweetie.”

Keith felt a warmth radiate within him starting in his core and heart.  It was a feeling that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. He was unable to feel it. It was lost along with his parents many years ago. He had began to think it wasn’t possible to experience it again

_So I guess this is what having a family is like._


End file.
